Building the Puzzle
by magickmoons
Summary: Keep building the puzzle and then maybe the pieces he had wouldn't hurt so much. * takes place during Fallen (7x01) * Jack, Daniel friendship, with reference to Daniel/Sha're


**Title: **Building the Puzzle**  
Genre: **Gen with reference to canon prior het relationship  
**Characters/Pairings:** Jack, Daniel, references to Daniel/Sha're**  
Notes: **Written for hc_bingo amnesia prompt

* * *

One. Breathe out. Breathe in. Right. Left.

Two. Breathe out. Breathe in. Right. Left.

There was something comforting to be found in the solid weight of the dumbbells, in the repetitive motion, in the narrowing of his focus to his breathing, counting, forcing his newly reconstituted muscles to adhere to the proper form Teal'c had shown him earlier. Daniel had wandered the halls aimlessly after his conversation with Teal'c, not ready to go back to his own quarters, before he finally wound up in the weight room, grateful to find it deserted. He had thrown himself into the exercise, hoping that he might be able to exhaust his body into sleep, trying not to wonder if this was something he would have done Before.

He didn't acknowledge Jack when he saw him standing in the doorway, but had little hope of that deterring what he was quickly beginning to understand was a very determined personality. And it didn't. After watching him for a minute, Jack walked over and took a seat on the next bench over. Daniel finished his set and placed the weights on the floor in front of him. Leaning his arms on his thighs, he looked up warily at Jack, who held a towel out to him.

Daniel nodded his thanks as he took the towel and ran it over his face and neck, absorbing trickles of sweat, before resting it on his shoulders.

"What can I do for you, Jack?" he asked when it became apparent that Jack had no problem engaging in a midnight staring contest. His voice was strangely amplified in the nearly empty room and he had to stop himself from wincing at the echoes.

"Oh, I was just happening by when I saw you in here working out some frustration. Thought you might like to..." Jack's hands performed a complex dance which Daniel took to mean 'talk.'

"Why do think I'm frustrated? I could just be working out." Daniel opted to bypass the half-spoken (half-hearted?) invitation in favor of trying to figure out another piece of the puzzle. Keep building the puzzle and then maybe the pieces he had wouldn't hurt so much.

"Well, you're working out in the middle of the night. Plus, when you're frustrated, your forehead does this thing where it... Yeah, kind of like that."

Daniel looked down and counted to ten. He was sick of everyone knowing him better than he knew himself. He opened his mouth to say as much, but instead blurted, "I remembered something tonight." He looked back up in time to catch Jack's eyes flick past him to where the picture of Sha're lay on top of his BDU shirt at the other end of the bench. "'Sha're'. That's it. Her name and some vague images from a dream."

Jack drew in a deep breath and started to speak, but Daniel cut him off.

"I already spoke with Teal'c. I know she's, I know she's dead. I... She was my wife. I loved her, I know I did, and I can barely remember her." All of a sudden he didn't seem able to stop talking. "What if I never remember any more than her name? What if I never remember her, her laugh? Or the way she smelled? What made her angry or sad or happy? What if I never remember how it felt to touch her, to hold her, to.. to make love to her? What if that's all just gone?"

He looked at Jack, unsure what his reaction would be, honestly not even sure what he wanted it to be. Jack was looking him with compassion and what seemed to be a profound underlying sadness. Daniel was struck breathless by that sadness, suddenly certain that Jack _got it_.

"God, Daniel. I don't even..." Jack scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed tiredly. "It's there. Just like her name, it'll all come back to you."

"What if it doesn't?" he asked and cringed immediately. He sounded so whiny, but he felt small and tired and disheartened and couldn't self-filter. He wondered if he had always been this way. Jack didn't seem like the kind of person to put up with self-pity, so he'd guess not. He realized Jack had started responding while he was lost in his thoughts.

"...not. Then I'll find Oma Desala or the Others or whoever I need to and I will convince them to put everything back in your head that belongs there." He made a face. "And _only_ what belongs there."

"They're ascended beings, Jack. You can't really threaten them."

"I can be very persuasive, Daniel."

Daniel felt a small smile break through. "Somehow, I doubt your brand of persuasion will be particularly effective with them."

Jack thought about that for a minute and nodded. "Yep, when you're right, you're right. Then we'll just have to get Teal'c to talk to 'em."

"Plan B?" Daniel asked.

Jack grinned at him. "You always gotta have a Plan B." Jack stood up and clapped his hands. "Now, Dr. Jackson, let's go see what havoc Carter is wreaking in her lab."

"It's the middle of the night. She can't possibly still be working. Can she?" Another piece of the puzzle.

"Oh, but she can. Especially when she can't sleep either." Daniel took Jack's offered hand and let him pull him to his feet. He paused, thinking about the fact that Teal'c was trying to kel-no-reem earlier instead of sleeping, Jack was wandering the halls, and Sam was working. It seemed like none of them were having an easy time with this either. Suddenly, he felt just a little less alone.

"We should stop by the commissary and see if they have any blue jello," he suggested as he bent to pick up his shirt and Sha're's photo. He straightened up in time to see Jack's smug smirk at the easy recollection of Sam's favorite junk food.

"That's a good idea, Daniel."

Daniel stopped to look at the picture again as Jack started to head for the hallway. He closed his eyes and felt the brush of warm, desert-chapped lips against his, _"My Danyel."_

"Sha're," he whispered, swallowing against the surge of emotion, loss and love and gratitude. He opened his eyes to find Jack being very obvious about inspecting the doorframe and smiled. "Hey, let's stop by Teal'c's and see if he wants to come, too."

~end~


End file.
